A Sleigh Ride Together With You
by HPtwilightfanatic
Summary: "Because it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with me?" "Wow. Arrogant and cheesy. I didn't think even you could put those together in one sentence." LxJ little Christmas fic!
1. Chapter 1

_Lily Evans never considered herself much of a hopeless romantic. Sure, she enjoyed to occasional romance novel, like most girls. But she never felt those shivers, or sighed whenever the hero killed the heroine finally. She was just classic Lily Evans, enjoyed every book and novel once in a while. _

_When she'd been asked on her official first date, (the one with Amos Diggory didn't count, ) by Thomas Davies, she'd been thrilled! But then, he brought her to Madame Puddifoot's. Lily had had to glue a fake smile on her face, and restrain herself from throwing up in the too-sweet-it-made-you-cringe-tea. Thomas had talked her ear off, and even got up the guts to try and kiss her, but she'd found an escape, saying she was supposed to have been meeting her friends at the Three Broomsticks._

_So it's not hard to see, that the Rock Hard Hearted Lily Evans could not be swayed by any kind of romance._

…_Then Hogsmeade started their Christmas Tradition._

_Walking into the Great Hall during Christmas time was probably one of the best sights in the world. Tinsel decorated all around the tall windows, along with garlands behind the teacher's table. Several trees were dotted around the walls, and flying cherubs were dropping peppermint candies and trying to capture couples under their little mistletoes. And of course, the humongous tree at the front of the hall, filled with ornaments and the big glittering gold star resting on top. _

_Christmas had to be one of my favorite times of the year, minus the cold. I loved the food, I loved the snow, and I loved how this time of the year seemed to make everyone smile. Even the Slytherins. Breathing in a deep smell of gingerbread and evergreen, I made my way over to the middle of Gryffindor's table, towards my friends, who were dressed up in their holiday attire as well._

"_Lily!" Alice waved, slapping her hand on the open bench next to her. Her boyfriend, Frank, sat across from her. The breakfast was oatmeal, topped with red and green sprinkles, with a scone shaped like Santa Clause. This stuff just brought a smile to my face as I sat down. "Happy Christmas!" Alice shouted, her usual hyper, pixie self, and hugged me._

"_Happy Christmas Al!" I laughed. Alice immediately went back to her previous conversation with Frank. Frank Longbottom definitely wins the Best Boyfriend Award. He just listened to Alice prattle on all bloody day. I glanced at Cissy and Rosie, who were chuckling at the two, and let a giggle slip myself._

"_I'm glad we stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas." Alyssa sighed from beside me, admiring all the decorations as I had been just moments before._

"_Me too Lyss." _

"_Did you hear that their letting us all go into Hogsmeade later today?" She sighed out, smiling slightly at a couple who had gotten stuck under one of the cherub's mistletoes. _

_I rolled my eyes, turning away from the sight. "No, I hadn't. But that's good, cause I still have to buy a present for Cissy. Any ideas of what she'd want?"_

_Alyssa reluctantly tore her eyes from the couple, now disgustingly sucking face, not even taking into mind that people are eating their breakfast, and trying not to barf their brains out! "Lily, stop glaring at Eva and Stephen. They're in love. And Cissy wants new gloves."_

"_Good. I can afford gloves."_

"_I already bought gloves for her."_

"_What? Then why did you-…never mind." I shook my head at my friend. I loved her to death, but she could be flighty at times._

_The post owls started to swoop down, bringing parcels to all the students left at Hogwarts. Surprisingly, the number of students left was very high. Over half of us were still here over the holidays. It was getting too dangerous out there, even to travel on the Hogwarts Express. Just last week, there'd been a horrific train "accident." The muggle news had said the train tracks were just icy from all of this weather, with it being "a record low for London Christmas'". But everyone in our world knew who it was. You Know Who didn't even take a break over the holidays. I'd overheard Dumbledore talking to McGonagall later in the evening after the accident. He'd said it was You Know Who's way of saying "I'm still here, even during these happy holidays. I can still rip everything away from you in an instant."_

_I shivered, despite the warm oatmeal resting in my stomach. "You okay?" Alice poked my with her spoon. I smiled, reassuring her, even though my insides had grown cold, just thinking about him._

BANG! POP!

Heads shot up all over the hall, just in time to see streamers fall from the snowing ceiling, and fall on everything. Some small sounds of laughter began, but then the streamer kept coming, and started melting. I watched, stunned in silence, as the red, green, and white streamer tattooed itself to my skin. I heard a girl scream form somewhere.

POP!

I looked over towards the scream, from the Slytherin table, and saw Snape stand up. There was a big green bow around him, with a tag and all. A streamer had painted itself across his big arse nose. In spite of myself, being Head Girl and all, I couldn't stop the snort that escaped me, and the small giggle.

But before I could actually start laughing at all, there was a big, wet, leathery thing on my cheek. Screeching, I jumped about a foot in the air, and backed into Alice.

In front of me, was a reindeer. A _real_ live reindeer. A glowing red nose, antler, saddle, bells, the works, standing right in front of me.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!"

_Oh no. No way._

I looked around, and spotted a small sleigh zooming around the Great Hall, weaving in between levitating candy canes, and students. Laughter filled the whole hall, except for a great many Slytherins, whose tags on their bow that I could now read, said "To: Moldy Voldy, From: Me."

I stood up, feeling my knees shake in anger. The reindeer tried to take a chomp out of my blouse, but I was already storming down the hall, towards four boys down the table, who were trying, but doing a very poor job of concealing their grins.

"POTTER!" I screeched over the raucous. The spectacled boy turned his amused eyes away from Lucius Malfoy, who was trying desperately to tug the silver bow off of him, and slap away a little Christmas elf who was putting his hair into a ponytail.

"What can I do for you Evans love?" Ooo, I loathed him. How he can just sit there, contest with this insanity he's caused, grinning at me so annoyingly, with his Head Boy badge gleaming at me, as if letting everyone know that Potter didn't deserve it.

"STOP THIS! MAKE IT STOP!"

"Don't shout so Lily! It makes your vocal cords strain, and you'll lose that pretty voice of yours." Ugh, how he could be so calm and collected, and leering at me. I clenched my hands, making my fingernails ding into my palms.

"I'LL RIP _YOUR_ VOCAL CORDS OUT IF YOU DON'T MAKE THIS STOP!"

"There's no need to yell Lily." Remus added.

"Besides, it's just some Christmas cheer! It looks to me like you need some, " Black put in his two cents that I couldn't care less about. He plucked a floating candy cane out of the air. "Here, have a candy cane." I slapped it out of his hands, but it just floated back up into the air.

" You're Head Boy Potter. Show some self respect." I snarled at him.

"I don't see what's putting your panties in a twist Evans." Potter blinked up at me innocently.

"These pranks Potter!" I felt like pulling my hair out!

"Does this look like a prank? Like Paddy said, it's just some Christmas cheer!" He folded his hands behind his head, and leaned back.

"Well it's not so cheerful for them!" I pointed my thumb behind me, at Avery, who was now mobbed my the tiny little elves, who were using tinsel to tie more bows on him.

"Nah, they'll get over it. They always do. They're just Slytherins Evans. Now run along. Oh, and don't bother tattle tailing to Dumbledore." Black indicated to the head table. Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, helping himself to candy canes that made him start flying up from his seat. He chuckled, and he floated up even more.

"UGH!" I groaned in exasperation, and stomped back over to my seat. I pulled out my wand, and took the tattooed streamers off of everyone, whispered a few counter jinxes, and watched my work.

All the candy canes clattered to the ground, breaking. The sleigh disappeared with a pop, as did the reindeers, and the elves who'd been bombarding the Slytherins. I left the big bows on though.

"Kill joy!" I heard Black "cough". I glared down at them. Remus looked away, and started chuckling with Sirius. But James just looked right back at me. His eyes looked fearless, challenging look. It almost seemed as though he were interested in something. The ghost of the cocky grin he'd had was still there.

His new look made me unnerved. I looked away from him quickly, shaking the memory of his expression out of my head.

"I'm going upstairs. Anyone coming?"

My friends were all sucking on the candy canes that seemed to put you in a fit of giggles, because Alyssa said, "In-in a m-minute!" With a lot of struggle between her giggles.

I huffed, and stormed out of the Great Hall, avoiding eye contact with the Marauders, and trying to ignore the random bursts of laughter.

Well, _maybe_ Christmas was my favorite time of year.


	2. Chapter 2

Snow was blustering around, circling the air. It was practically a blizzard. But the Christmas Hogsmeade trip was still on.

I wrapped the scarf tightly around my face. Rosie was still giggling as she brushed her teeth.

I grumbled more about those stupid candy canes. Dumbledore was still walking the hallways, chuckling himself past the glowing suit of armor. The Marauders had paraded around all day, completely content with themselves. And people had actually applauded. _Applauded!_ Like they needed any more encouragement!

"You almost ready Lils?" Alice asked?

I pulled my gloves on fiercely. "Yes." I growled. Alice sort of jumped at my tone, but we all trudged out the door anyway.

The snow was worse than it looked. I whipped around us, slashing the poor parts of our skin that weren't covered. A group of third years were practically being blown back to the castle! But we trudged on towards the little village, angled against the army of snowflakes coming at us.

Cissy shouted something, but the wind blew it right past our ears. She indicated her sliver mitten towards the big sign, blowing back and forth with three brooms on it. I nodded at her, and we continued through the blizzard towards the building.

Opening the door to the Three Broomsticks was like entering Heaven. The almost too sweet, yet still satisfying smell of cream engulfed us as we lowered our scarves. Rosmerta's famous Christmas mead was sending intoxicating fumes everywhere. It just smelled so homey. 

"Evening ladies!" Madame Rosmerta called from behind the bar. The five of us weaved through all the crowded table, over to a booth in a corner. We sat down, peeling of all our wet layers and gladly welcoming the warm air as it hugged us. 

"What can I get for y'all?" Rosmerta whipped out her pad of paper and scribbled down eggnog butter beers for all of us. 

"Make that a double order Rosmerta deary!" I couldn't stop the flinch. Rosie just rolled her eyes. Rosmerta giggled like a little girl when Sirius winked at her as he scooted in next to Rosie.

"No! We have no room and you're not wel-" But Potter was already sidling up right next to me in the booth.

"What were you saying Flower?" He smirked that maddening smirk. He wasn't as far away from me as I expected when I turned towards him. The insult that I'd had all ready and prepared got thrown back down my throat. 

Chocolate completely filled my vision. He must've eaten one of the bloody candy canes today; his breath smelt strongly of mint.

_Why am I thinking about Potter's breath?_ I quickly turned away without saying a word.

Rosmerta came back with our drinks a few minutes later, Sirius and Rosie were talkative and flirty (nothing unusual there, ) Remus and Alyssa were quietly talking, also as usual. Cissy and James were engaging in a conversation, causing them to laugh and snort loudly. I felt kind of awkward, just staring at my half empty cup, listening to the small bits of conversation. 

Every time James shook with laughter, I felt it, and for some reason it sent tingles all the way up my arm, making it all warm…or that could also just be my butterbeer.

"Hello? Did you hear a work I just said Lils?" Alyssa's voice broke my reverie.

"Wha-hmm?"

"Do you want to go on a sleigh ride?"

I looked out the window, and say those decorated sleighs being pulled by themselves. Hogsmeade had started this tradition a few years ago. Lovey dovey couples had flocked to it, and it had quickly caught on. Personally, I'd never seen an actual purpose for them.

"I don't know. It's kind of cold out you know."

"Great! Let's go!" Cissy pulled my arm, ignoring all my spluttering.

Soon enough, we were back out in the biting, freezing cold. Alyssa snagged Remus and dragged him into the first one that pulled up. Rosie and Sirius grabbed the next one. I was beginning to see how this pattern was going to go. And sure enough, Alice said she was going to go snatch Frank away from his friends and take a ride…and Cissy seemed to have disappeared. 

As Sirius and Rosie's sleigh pulled off, with them already laughing to themselves, James and I were the only ones left on the walkway in knee deep snow. 

At that moment, I felt like ripping all of my friends into little tiny pieces for leaving my like this! I'd bet my own right foot that bloody sodding Potter was apart of this scandal!

"Well…this is great fun." I whipped my head in his direction. He had his hands buried in his pockets, and the idiot wasn't wearing a hat in this bloody weather. His face had an obvious sarcastic mask on.

_Hm, I guess he wasn't apart of this plot…that still doesn't make him innocent!_

I looked away from him, and fixed my eyes on same customers in Zonkos, when my vision was suddenly obscured by a large something. Focusing in on the something in front of me, I realized that that something was another sleigh that had pulled up.

At first, there was a confused silence around us. Neither James or I moved an inch. An anxious feeling filled me up, and gripped it's claws into me.

_What do I do? What's he going to do? We can't just stand here and wait for everyone to get back with this giant sleigh in front of us!_

Then James walked in front of me, and stepped upon the sleigh and spun on his heel. Those hazel eyes had that secret spark in them, that was ready to be impulsive.

"Come on." He held out his hand before me. I froze up. 

_What?_

This was all wrong. I just stared at his hand, and I could feel my eyes bulging. My heart started at a running speed. "W-why?"

James chuckled softly to himself. "Why not?"

My eyes shot up to his face now, and surprisingly, he wasn't smirking. He was all out _grinning._

"But-"

"Oh come on Evans! It's snowing, it's Christmas, and it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with me!"

I put my hands on my hips, and gave him an incredulous look. "Wow. Arrogant _and_ cheesy. I didn't think even _you_ could put those together in one sentence."

James' grin evaporated, and he took on an almost pleading look. "Why not Flower?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it's cold, and it's with _you?"_

"Aw come on Evans," he shook his head so his hair went in front of his face, and looked at me through his bangs, taking on a coy look. "It's tempting all the same right? There's hot cocoa, blankets, a feet warming smell…it can't really be that bad can it?"

And again his face transformed into a disappointed, almost sad look. I could barely take it.

He sighed. "I guess I'll just go on a sleigh ride all by my lonesome. On Christmas," I rolled my eyes at his sad look, knowing it was fake. "All by myself. I'll drink hot cocoa, al by myself. On Christmas. And I'll sit all-" 

"Alright! Alright Potter! You toerag, I'll go on a bloody sleigh ride with you."

And the smile was immediately plastered back on. He held out his hand to help me, but I refused it, so he just moved aside on the bench to give me room. 

The sleigh pulled off from it's parking spot, as James slipped the blanket over the both of us. There were little heaters that were warming up little mugs of cocoa, sending the smell of chocolate into the air. 

If possible, we were sitting closer than we'd been in our booth at the Three Broomsticks. 

_Merlin, how small do they make these sleighs? One house elf could fit in here, and _still_ be uncomfortable._

I tired to cross my arms, but couldn't move my left arm. Trying not to make it obvious, I slid my eyes over to find that I couldn't move my arm, because James' right arm was leaning on it.

I huffed, and leaned back in the sleigh. This just made me even more peeved at him. First, the stupid bloody prank. Then his squishing me into the booth and then not even talking to me, then convincing me to go on this sodding sleigh ride, when I could be all warm inside Honeydukes, or Zonkos, but no. I was stuck on a stupid sleigh ride.

One of the things on my list I'd sworn to myself I'd never do. That list was very long. Like, I'll never step into Madame Puddifoot's again, I'll never laugh at any of the Marauder's pranks, I'll never write a love poem, I'll never -well, it keeps going. 

So how did I allow James Potter to convince me to pull this stupid stunt with him? I guess I'm more peeved at myself than Potter.

Though it was his fault too…he's not getting let off here. It's all on him that I'm riding this bloody sleigh. 

James shifted against me suddenly, as he reached for a mug of cocoa. My arm lit on fire, tingling all over. I snatched in back, and hugged it to myself. 

_It's only like that because he was leaning on it. He's a heavy Quidditch player. My arm just fell asleep. That's all._

I tried reasoning with myself, tried to believe that. But deep down, I knew those words weren't true. There was a loud silence in the corners of my head that was closing in on my ears. Clenching my teeth, I threw up my hands over my ears. My arm was still smoldering, and the heat was moving up to my neck.

"Er…Lily?" 

I shot up from my position. "What!" The waves of red sloshed over my cheeks, burning them like my arm had been a few embarrassing moments ago.

James was looking at me like I belonged in a straight jacket, sitting in an asylum. "Er…sorry." 

I stared at my clasped hands in my lap. _Great job Lily. Now he thinks you're a nutter. Well done._ A sigh escaped me, clouding up the cold air in front of us.

_Why did I care, if he thought I was a nutter? Maybe ten he'd finally leave me the hell alone._

I wanted to grin, and jump for joy at that thought, but two things stood in my way. First: was This sleigh was too freaking small, and Second: was that thought didn't actually make me the happiest in the world. It felt like the pounding organ in my chest was suddenly heavy and sluggish. Why was this all crashing down on me now?

"You gonna drink your cocoa Evsies?" Dammit. He caught me in a daze again. Why him? It's always him.

"Oh, um, sure." My hand was shaking as he handed the mug over to me, and his fingers brushed over mine lightly.

"Sorry." He mumbled, and turned forward. But I couldn't move.

I stayed facing him, frozen in place. I'd always thought his fingers were rough, from Quidditch and all that. I mean, I'd seen all the calluses he had from the wood on his broom. But when his fingers had just brushed against mine, they were surprisingly soft.

"You need something?" His one eyebrow was lifted at me.

Bloody hell, I got to quit doing that. I'm way past nutter now, I'm just completely mental now.

"No. I'm fine. Sorry." this time I resisted temptation. I completely ignored him, just watched all the snow covered trees pass us. I could feel him shifting around because of the awkwardness, but I just ignored it.

_Ignoring…ignoring…not going to say anything…it'll end, and I'll just go to bed. I'll forget this whole thing. And-_

"Get anything good this year?"

…It's not my fault. It really isn't. you can't avoid a question like that without making it obvious that you're ignoring somebody! You can easily ignore "This is nice weather we're having eh?" Especially when you can just pretend you didn't hear them and keep dawdling on like nothing happened! You can't ignore "Get anything good this year?" Especially when you're not even a half of centimeter away from them!

"Well, a few tings. I got a lot of books, Alyssa knitted me a scarf. This one actually," I told him, indicating the red and purple scarf around my neck. "My parents gave me a CD, and a necklace." We talked for awhile after that since James was confused about what (in his words) the bloody hell a CEE-DEE was.

It was nice actually. James was really easy to talk to, when he wasn't being an arse. 

Turns out Sirius, Remus, and Peter got him a stuffed animal deer (which thoroughly confused me, especially when he started cracking up about it.) His mother had made him a sweater, and he'd gotten new Quidditch gloves from his dad.

The sleigh ride seemed to be going quicker, and the lights of Hogsmeade were reaching us again. 

We were still laughing together when the sleigh came to a sudden stop, throwing us forward slightly. "Oh…" Hogsmeade looked different for some reason, like it wasn't' the same night or something. 

I looked up at the clock above Honeydukes, and my jaw practically hit the floor of the sleigh.

_That ride was only ten minutes?__It seemed like forever!_

"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do." James announced. I looked at him quizzically, and he seemed to move a little closer. Then, in a very quiet voice, I heard him say, "Merry Christmas Lily," and his lips lightly brushed over mine. 

This fire, was uncontrollable, and unexplainable compared to the one in my arm earlier. It seemed almost like a slap in the face; I realized what all of those feelings during the sleigh ride meant as he pulled away and stood up. 

"Yeah," I said, standing up as well and facing him. "Merry Christmas James." I stood on my very tippy toes and pressed my lips against his. I felt him smile, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, while mine inched up and around his neck. 

I heard a gasp, and then Sirius' voice rang out loudly, singing, "I SAW JAMESIE KISSING LILYKINS! UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE LST MMF!-" 

"Shut up!" Rosie scolded in a dreamy voice.

Funny, now that we look back on it, neither James or I knew there was a sprig of mistletoe above the sleigh.

**A/N: Helloooo! I know this is kind of late, but I've been busy with Christmas for a long time! At least it's better than last years post on New Years! J I'm sorry for the first chap deal, with half of it italic and the other half normal. I'm hoping this one doesn't do that…Microsoft works kind of freaks out with fan fiction sometimes…yeah…alright! This is my comeback guys! 

Please R&R! No flames please!


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